Forty-six Western experts, military personnel, and diplomats including former US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Bigen and Special Representative of the US State Department for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, signed a letter on the eve of the Alliance summit in Vilnius calling for Ukraine to be given a road map to NATO membership as soon as possible.
According to the letter, “In Vilnius, the Alliance should launch a road map that will clearly lead to Ukraine’s membership in NATO in the shortest possible time. As in the case of Finland and Sweden, this process may bypass the Membership Action Plan, given the close and constant interaction between NATO and Ukraine”.
The authors point out that Ukraine’s presence in the gray zone of uncertainty provokes Russian aggression at a time when Putin has not yet given up his goal of establishing control over Ukraine. The letter’s signatories call for measures to be taken so that Ukraine wins the war and regains full control over its internationally recognized borders in 1991.